Newswire – March 12, 2019

SENATOR CORY BOOKER’S LIFE SHOWS SCHOOL CHOICE A KEY CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE.When he was Newark’s mayor from 2006 to 2013, he managed to triple the number of students attending charter schools in his city. He even served on the board of one of the city’s first charter schools.

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED. Senator Booker’s support of maximum opportunity for New Jersey students has not earned him any friends in the education establishment and its unions who are happy with the status quo. The empire has plans to strike back, as explained in this L.A. Times piece. We pray the Senator will stick to his guns.

DOES CHOICE WORK? ASK BLACK COLLEGE GRADUATES. Last add on the “educational choice is a civil rights issue” topic is this proof that giving minority parents real options to pursue the best education for their kids – regardless of zip codes or financial circumstances – improves outcomes.

STORM WARNING FROM CHICAGO. When the national teachers union showed up to fan the flames of discontent among teachers that work at four of the fourteen schools that make up the Chicago International Charter School , its CEO and long time educator and school leader had had enough. The internal attacks and vitriole were shocking to Elizabeth Shaw, a progressive who cares deeply about social justice. “Our organizational leadership experienced a barrage of identity-based and truth-absent personal attacks. CTU’s rhetoric was racist, anti-semitic and gendered. Union agitators shouted at students (some food and housing insecure) and parents trying to get to school during the strike.” And as many have seen with these strikes, the CTU ended up with the same that was offered in the beginning but nevertheless declared victory.

“The untold part of this story is that the same contract that CTU claims it “won” was on the table before the strike even began. Leadership offered it. CTU leaders rejected it. Then, after nine days of public demonstrations, they triumphantly accepted it. This was a big win for educators, but a strike and nine days of lost learning time wasn’t necessary to get it.

“I wish I could say I was surprised, but it was clear that this strike was never really about the terms of the contract. It was a show of political force in a town where CTU often controls elections and at a time when the very existence of unions is being threatened, locally and nationally.”

WE TOLD YOU SO. As CER Founder and CEO Jeanne Allen pointed out recently in the Wall Street Journal, the current wave of union strikes against schools kids, including in West Virginia, is not about money and it’s not about class size, it’s about stifling competition from charter schools. We’re grateful to the West Virginia AFT affiliate for proving Jeanne’s point. Governor Jim Justice has called for a special Legislative session to deliver on a promised pay raise for teachers. The AFT is opposed – you read that right – opposed – to the special session, saying “While the pay increase is much needed, the legislative leadership should be reminded that education employees did not strike over a pay raise,” he said. “Teachers and service personnel remain opposed to defunding schemes like charter schools and ESAs and will approach this special session with a suspicious eye.” And there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth, or some body part.

IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED – CHANGE THE RULES. From North Carolina comes this disturbing report that rather than fix failing schools that deliver sub-par education to students, the legislature is going to solve the problem by – are you sitting down – changing the rules and making what were once failing grades into passing grades! In football this would be called “moving the goalposts”. In education it is called by its old fashioned named – cheating.

OPPORTUNITY COMES IN MANY FORMS – it’s that great school that makes the difference in a child’s life. Jimmy Kemp, president of the Jack Kemp Foundation, joins us on the latest episode of Reality Check with Jeanne Allen. He covered a range of issues, from his late father, former congressman, cabinet secretary, and vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp, and his career as a professional football player and how it informed his life in public service and his passionate advocacy to end poverty and racism in America. He also discussed the potential that ‘Opportunity Zones’, a feature of the 2017 tax bill strongly supported by the Jack Kemp Foundation, have to improve educational choices in low income communities across America. Jack Kemp was one of the brightest, forward looking thinkers in America. Like father, like son.

Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education.